Catching White Bass in the Fall on Lake of the Ozarks!

If you like to catch hard fighting fish you'll find Lake of the Ozark White Bass to be quite cooperative in the fall months at Lake of the Ozarks!  Like other fish species, White Bass follow bait fish and they're aggressive feeders during bite periods.  One can often find White Bass on wind blown main lake points, especially if there is a good amount of bait fish in the area and the wind has been blowing towards said point for several hours.  Once the water starts cooling and the shad begin moving back into creek arms you'll often find White Bass in significant numbers.  When you locate an area that holds a large quantity of bait fish, you will probably be able to find White Bass (and other species) in the area.  

Anglers often catch White Bass on topwater baits when they're blowing up on shad or minnows.  Popular baits to use when the bass are on top of the water column would be a Whopper Plopper, Zara Spook, Choppo, or top water propeller baits.  Any color top water bait will work but light colored baits in a white or silver work particularly well.  On cloudy and windy days its not uncommon to see large schools of white bass feast on bait fish on top of the water for extended periods of time.  When this happens its common to catch a limit in short order.  Once the bass leave the surface, one can catch them on silver spoons such as a Little Cleo or Kast Master in a 2-3 inch size.  Other baits such as Rooster Tails, Meps Spinners, and Rattle Traps also perform well on White Bass.  White Bass schools are often relatively easy to locate on side or forward imaging.  Other times it seems they go super deep and scatter and it becomes a challenge to locate them.  Some enjoy eating white bass (I'm one of them) and they're quite tasty, especilly if you carve the red meat off of the filets.  Some prefer to bleed White Bass by clipping on of their gills before placing them in the livewell.  Some believe this removes some of the red color in their meat and improves their flavor profile.  In the months of September, October, and November I rarely leave the dock without rods that have White Bass lures tied on and ready to use.  When they're blowing up on top you need to be ready!   I hope you have the chance to get into a school of White Bass this fall, its one of my favorite fish to catch!